Press Kit Requirements

A press kit is requested but not required, including:

Prizes & Awards

This category is a competition.

Best of Show // Award of Excellence // Award of Merit // Award of Recognition After each seasonal deadline, quality and creativity are celebrated in four levels of awards: Best of Show, Award of Excellence, Award of Merit and Award of Recognition. Best of Show honors are granted to the top scoring entry for each season. Awards of Excellence are granted to entries with truly exceptional filmmaking. Notable artistic and technical productions are recognized at the Award of Merit award level and Award of Recognition recognizes achievement in a specific category of entry. Free digital downloads of Accolade Awards laurels will be made available to all winners. One complementary Accolade statuette is provided to the Best of Show winner. Statuettes are available for purchase for winners at all levels. Plated with 24k gold, the beautiful fifteen inch tall statuette is manufactured by the company that makes the worlds’ most prestigious and celebrated awards, the Oscar, Clio, and IndieFEST. Shipping is free within the United States. International orders will be charged a shipping fee. Participants are under no obligation to purchase a statuette. Sponsor:Best Shorts Competition
Value of Goods/Services: 500 U.S. Dollar
This prize is shared with other categories.

Category Rules

Rules / Eligibility

1. Entries MUST be 57 minutes or less. (If you would like to enter a feature length film, documentary, or feature television program, please submit to the Accolade Global Film Competition at www.AccoladeCompetition.org and the IndieFEST Film Awards at www.TheIndieFEST.com)

2. Submissions in other than English must be subtitled.

3. Multiple entries are allowed from a filmmaker and each entry may be entered in multiple categories.

4. Online screeners are mandatory. If you choose not to upload your project to Withoutabox’s site, please provide an online link to your submission and be sure to include the password in an email correspondence sent directly to Best Shorts Competition. If you choose to send a DVD screener as well, please format it in NTSC, label the cover with the Withoutabox Tracking ID, film title, filmmaker name and telephone number, and forward it to the Best Shorts Competition mailing address.

5. Best Shorts Competition does not download submissions or accept Dropbox submissions. Please only send links to your media hosted on 3rd party servers such as Vimeo or YouTube.

6. Written comments describing entries are beneficial.

7. DVD Entries will not be returned.

8. All films submitted under a “Student Fee” category will be listed as a (Student) on all materials including social media and press releases. Student I.D. required.